and he notes -
I must have been on another planet when the Syracuse Convention came
off (or maybe I was sniffing glue) but I remember it differently. At
the close of the convention, Walt Danylak came to me with the news
that the Marriott wanted several hundred dollars to cover the cost of
function rooms due to the fact that an insufficient number of guest
rooms were rented to convention attendees. As it happened, the hotel
had sold out that weekend and had been turning members away. They had
promised to hold rooms until Friday of the convention but had let
them go earlier that week to another group. When I found out about it
I discussed the problem with their function supervisor (a foxy young
lady as I recall) and was told that it was a management decision and
we'd have to pay the difference. Not! They did not live up to their
part of the bargain and wouldn't budge but I wouldn't accept that crap...
When I returned to Washington I called their headquarters and spoke
to Willard Marriott Jr. who I knew from another organization and
explained to him what had transpired. He not only agreed with me but
was downright angry with the Syracuse hotel and we were owed an
apology with the result that the bill was canceled. They even
refunded the 40 bucks for coffee and donuts! So if the Syracuse club
lost money on the event, it wasn't due to hotel fees. I still have
the letter of apology in my files somewhere and I remember Walt
calling me with his thanks.
On splitting the profits on that or other conventions during my
tenure, it never happened. The feeling at the time was that the host
club did all the work and NASG was really a guest. We tried, but it
never amounted to anything and we didn't press it. I don't know how
it's done today, but waaay back then splitting the profits and losses
was not an issue.
As far as the convention car was concerned, NASG had neither the
funds nor the organization (such as we have now) to handle such a
venture. I purchased ten of them myself and I believe Walt, or
whoever was in charge of the project, got Andy Kriswallis to repaint
the rest which were eventually sold. I seem to recall that Walter
Graeff bought a bunch of them and sold them in his hobby shop. It
took a while but the Club did recoup their investment.
As far as discord during my tenure, I can only say this: NASG was a
corporation and as its President, I ran it as such. Board meetings
were run in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order and the Board
made decisions based on initiative and referendum. As chairman, my
vote was only used to break a tie. As far as I can recall, there
weren't that many issues anyway. Perhaps your resignation was more
for this attempt to bring order to the business of running the Board
that caused you to resign. I can't recall that the Syracuse
convention car was the issue but my memory is no better than yours -
(too much sniffing Ambroid glue I guess!).
As far as members liking or disliking me, they presented me with the
Bernie Thomas Memorial Award so maybe I wasn't all that bad.
At the end of my term, NASG was a financially sound organization with
several hundred members, a greatly improved Dispatch and a working
Board of Directors. It will be interesting to see how you treat your
tenure in the next chapter of your opus.
Rollain Mercier
Past President, NASG and still in hot and humid Maine
At 05:52 PM 8/24/2007, Edward Loizeaux wrote:
>Chapter #4 -- NASG AND ME (pre-Prez years)
>Somewhere along the way, the NASG annual convention at Syracuse, NY ran
>into financial difficulties and lost a bunch of money. I think a BIG
>bunch of money mostly because the guys didn't want to stay at the
>Marriott (or similarly expensive place) convention hotel and stayed at
>the MOTEL SIX (or similar el cheapo' joint) across the street for half
>the price. As a result, the convention did not meet the contracted room
>count and had to pay big bucks for the convention facilities. In
>addition, to make matters worse, a whole bunch of specially painted
>convention cars did not sell. It wasn't long before the Syracuse guys
>came to NASG looking for financial assistance. After all, they
>reasoned, if NASG wanted to split the profits, shouldn't it also split
>the losses? On the other hand, there had never been a loss of this
>magnitude before. To complicate things, the Syracuse guys had a planned
>series of money-making projects (special cars, etc.) that, over the next
>year or two, would earn enough profit to make up for the convention
>losses. The NASG BOT was divided on the matter.
>
>NASG's then Prez and I ended up on opposite sides of the issue. The
>Prez made the decision his way (details omitted to protect the guilty).
>I walked out the door and resigned. To my way of thinking, the matter
>was handled improperly and I wanted no part of it. Not even a remote
>association. This was the first of many S-related conflicts for me and
>I didn't enjoy it one bit. I was much happier simply building kits and
>dreaming about a train layout. So I returned to California, sniffed
>some Ambroid glue and eventually got happy again. Ambroid works!
>
>As the clock ticked onward, I heard more and more rumors about NASG and
>how things were being run. Most of the rumors were complaints and I
>think it would be best to not spread those rumors around here.
>Especially with a memory as bad as mine and with so much time having
>gone by. Let's just say that the rumor mill was working overtime. It
>really doesn't matter what the specifics were.
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